Black man sues Ohio town saying he was kicked in the face, tased and kneed in the groin by off duty cops

This Friday Erimius Spencer filed a lawsuit against the city of Euclid, Ohio, former Euclid police officer Michael Amiott, current officer Shane Rivera and the owners of the apartment complex where he lived. In the suit, Erimius claims that he was kicked in the face, kneed in the groin and seriously hurt by the Cleveland police officers.

Officer Michael Amiott was fired from the police department this past October after dashboard camera video showed him repeatedly punching a different black man during a traffic stop.

In the lawsuit, Spencer’s say the two officers were moonlighting as security guards at his apartment building last December when they confronted him in a hallway, asking him if he had any warrants and whether he was armed.

According to the suit, Amiott then reached into Spencer’s pocket and found a small amount of marijuana, grabbed him by the arm and shoved him against the wall while ordering him to stop resisting. Spencer says he was then kneed in the groin and shoved to the floor by Amiott while Rivera jumped on his back and restrained his arms and legs. Spencer says he was also kicked in the face by Amiott when he called out for help and that both officers shocked him with stun guns before placing him in handcuffs.

Spencer, who was treated for a broken bone in his face, says he was not resisting at any point during the arrest.
However, he later was charged in Euclid Municipal Court with theft, resisting arrest, criminal damaging and drug abuse.
Euclid eventually hired a special prosecutor, who got the first three charges dropped in September. Spencer paid a fine for the drug charge.

The theft charged stemmed from Amiott’s allegation that Spencer had tried to steal his Taser. He also charged him with criminal damaging because when they were tasering him numerous times part of a piece of plastic broke on the taser…and apparently Officer Amiott said his sunglasses got broken during what was essentially a beat-down on Erimuis,’ Spencer’s attorney told Fox8.

Spencer also allegedly had less than one gram of marijuana on his person. In Ohio, this is only punishable by a fine of up to $150.